Freestyle Weightlifting
Top 10 Takeaways
Janelle and I had the chance to jump over to South Loop Strength & Conditioning this past weekend and attend Freestyle Weightlifting – a seminar put on by two amazing minds in the fitness industry – Carl Paoli and Diane Fu.
Quick background on the two:
Carl Paoli: If you’ve ever watched a video in an effort to get better at a gymnastics movement, chances are you’ve watched a few of Carl’s videos from gymnasticswod.com. Carl’s most recent movement – Freestyle Connection – “is dedicated to teaching and mastering human movement and performance.”
Diane Fu: Diane has been in the fitness industry since 1998 (that’s almost 20 years) and found her love for Olympic-style weightlifting after joining forces with Dr. Kelly Starrett at San Francisco CrossFit. Diane is also the head coach of the FuBarbell Club – “who’s mission is to spread the good word of Olympic-style weightlifting.”
There was A LOT of good things from this collaborative seminar, but I’ll do my best to narrow down!
Top 10 Takeaways (from both Carl & Diane) your mother would understand in no particular order.
Carl Paoli
- There are multiple recipes to reach your movement goals. Keep your mind open and explore the avenues that work for YOU.
- A good program realizes “universal prescriptions w/ individual application”.
- Positioning is all about your 1) start, 2) transition, and 3) finish. How we label/code movement depends mainly on the transition phase.
- In order for movement to be “functional” it must be safe, useful, and long-lasting.
- “Move like you care.”
Diane Fu
- 3 Characteristics of a Good Pull – 1) Close, 2) Smooth, 3) Powerful
- Develop technique that is useful/unique to YOUR MOVEMENT.
- Weightlifting is about “creating enough space to do your trick”. With enough momentum and power transfer, you’ll be able to get under the bar.
- Olympic-style weightlifting should be “centered”.
- Get acquainted with your quads & lats.